Our quasi-feudal upper chamber is holding an election until Wednesday morning after the death of Earl Ferrers, one of the 92 hereditary peers. The House of Lords will choose a new member, and despite the limited pool of landed candidates, they must be able to find someone a little less controversial than the 3rd Viscount Hailsham, who Guido understands has emerged as the front-runner over the weekend. Regular readers will remember the Viscount as Douglas Hogg, the disgraced Tory MP who charged us to clean his moat…

Hogg was forced out of politics at the height of the expenses scandal, and is showing some serious brass-neck with this comeback bid. It’s more than the moat at Kettlethorpe Hall that needs cleaning out. What sort of message would it send out if the House of Lords welcomes him back to the trough as expected?